Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) Stock Price Expected to Rise, UBS Group Analyst Says

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) had its price target upped by UBS Group from $55.00 to $70.00 in a research note published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the pipeline company’s stock.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on WMB. Truist Financial upped their price target on Williams Companies from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Bank of America assumed coverage on Williams Companies in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $55.00 target price on the stock. Barclays increased their price target on Williams Companies from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded Williams Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $51.54.

Williams Companies Trading Up 2.3 %

Shares of WMB stock opened at $57.86 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $50.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $45.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $70.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.41, a P/E/G ratio of 5.83 and a beta of 1.03. Williams Companies has a fifty-two week low of $32.65 and a fifty-two week high of $58.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.01. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.36% and a return on equity of 15.89%. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.52 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.45 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Williams Companies will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.28%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 80.17%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total transaction of $447,641.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 25,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,455,805.40. This trade represents a 23.52 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total value of $90,580.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 304,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,777,218. This represents a 0.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Williams Companies by 19.0% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 35,734,666 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,631,288,000 after buying an additional 5,697,605 shares during the last quarter. Blackstone Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 109.1% during the 1st quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 6,466,660 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $252,006,000 after acquiring an additional 3,373,800 shares during the last quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $57,220,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 5.9% in the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 20,983,727 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $817,736,000 after purchasing an additional 1,175,628 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in Williams Companies by 20.1% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 6,117,298 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $259,985,000 after purchasing an additional 1,024,158 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Company Profile

The Williams Companies, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an energy infrastructure company primarily in the United States. It operates through Transmission & Gulf of Mexico, Northeast G&P, West, and Gas & NGL Marketing Services segments. The Transmission & Gulf of Mexico segment comprises natural gas pipelines; Transco, Northwest pipeline, MountainWest, and related natural gas storage facilities; and natural gas gathering and processing, and crude oil production handling and transportation assets in the Gulf Coast region.